"Just as ruthless and indifferent to the rule of law as his predecessor." Ouch.

[JoePhilly]

148. I like that ... I prefer specifics over generalities.

Or, if you are going to generalize, make sure you are very up front about having done so.

I think back to debates I had with right wingers after the Patriot Act passed. They didn't seem to grasp the reality that Bush had just given the next Democratic President a power that he could use to spy on THEM.

They were running around screaming ... "if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem??" To which I responded ... "well, you may have nothing to hide from Bush, but given you are sure that the Democrats are allied with the terrorists, won't the next Dem President simply turn those powers against YOU?"

They were sure that no Democrat would ever be President again. And I told them that the next Democratic President wasn't going to give up those powers, in part because of how crazy and paranoid the right wing had become.

So in that case, I thought those powers were a bad idea, and that once given, they were probably not going away for a very long time, if ever.